BCCI Lures Google & Amazon To Bid For Bilateral Series Media Rights

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly wooing global giants Amazon and Google parent Alphabet to bid for the media rights for bilateral series of the Indian cricket team amid a tepid response from other companies.

The proposed starting date of the auction process for the media rights of bilateral tournaments of the Indian cricket team for the next five years has been postponed by at least two weeks as the BCCI is reaching out to more companies to gain interest, Bloomberg reported.

As opposed to the timeline suggested by BCCI’s adviser, Ernst & Young, the sale process is running two weeks behind. As per the original plan, the auction would have been completed by the end of August.

While the Indian Premier League (IPL) has emerged as the top cricket property, garnering high viewership over the last two years, the lack of interest in bilateral matches highlights the struggles of media companies in generating revenue through advertisements amid falling interest in the longer formats.

The BCCI is expected to raise at least $750 Mn through the sale of media rights for 102 matches, almost the same price for what it was sold five years back. In sharp contrast, media rights for IPL surged almost 3X last year from the previous auction period.

Among Indian media firms, Viacom 18 is expected to bid aggressively for the digital media rights for bilateral series, the report said. However, Star India parent Disney may take a cautious approach as it is undertaking a cost-cutting exercise globally.

The BCCI raked in INR 48,390 Cr from IPL media rights for 2023-27 cycle. The television rights for the Indian subcontinent were picked up by Disney Star for INR 23,575 Cr, while Reliance-backed Viacom18 won the digital rights for the Indian subcontinent for INR 20,500 Cr.

Viacom18’s JioCinema decided to stream the IPL for free for all viewers, a decision which worked in its favour. Reliance, in its Q1 financial results, claimed that its OTT app JioCinema generated higher revenue from digital streaming of IPL compared to its rival Disney Star. The company also said that JioCinema created history as 449 Mn tuned in for the IPL, while 120 Mn watched the final match of the tournament.

Although the response for media rights for bilateral series remains tepid, cricket viewership saw growth on television last year. For example, the first test match of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was among the top five most-watched test matches since 2018, as per BARC data.